President Nikos Christodoulides “did not become entangled in a blame game” with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar during their meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Monday.

His remarks followed accusations from both leaders that the other side had raised tensions.

Letymbiotis described the most important outcome of the New York tripartite meeting as the UN chief’s personal commitment to the Cyprus issue and his reference to resuming negotiations from where they ended at Crans-Montana in 2017.

Letymbiotis said that, despite knowing things could not move forward pending elections in the north on October 19, the secretary general nevertheless called the meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.

Regarding talks resuming from the point they left off at Crans Montana, Letymbiotis said “we not only welcome this, but it is something we have reiterated many times and anyway the UN framework is what determines and must determine the process”.

After elections in the north for a new leader, Guterres’ personal envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin will visit Cyprus, the guarantor powers – Greece, Turkey and the UK – and Brussels, to prepare for the enlarged meeting before the end of the year.

The third enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, involving Cyprus’ two sides, the UN and the guarantor powers will take place in autumn, most likely November.

“We believe that the enlarged meeting can be held the soonest possible. We are ready for this, so that a discussion on the essence can begin for the resumption of negotiations from where they left off,” Letymbiotis said.

Asked about remarks by Tatar that this could not happen, Letymbiotis said the Turkish Cypriot leader was repeating his positions, which fall outside the UN framework that is supported by the international community and the five permanent members of the UN security council.

Christodoulides met with the five permanent members in New York, Letymbiotis added, and all reaffirmed their commitment to existing UN Security Council resolutions.

The UN framework, he added, was a “compass” determining the way forward and could not change.

“There will be no withdrawal from the framework set out in the resolutions,” Letymbiotis stressed, adding that this has been made clear by both the EU and the UN.

Meanwhile, deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou said the UN chief’s commitment to resuming talks from the Crans Montana point constituted an answer to the Turkish side’s demand for a two-state solution.

He told CyBC radio that the enlarged meeting would have to focus on the substance of the Cyprus problem.

Regarding the elections in the north, he said it would be an illusion to think that the position of the Turkish Cypriots depended on who their leader was.

Nevertheless, Antoniou said a new leader could breathe some change into the Turkish rhetoric.